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NADAL CRASHES OUT OF ITALIAN OPEN

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Clay court king Rafael Nadal crashed out of the Italian Open on Saturday (Sept 19), falling to a straight sets defeat to Argentine Diego Schwartzman in a tournament the Spaniard had won nine times.

Eight-seeded Schwartzman meted out a punishing 6-2, 7-5 loss in Nadal’s final warm-up before his bid for a 13th French Open, and record-equalling 20th Grand Slam in just over a week.

“It was not my night at all,” said Nadal, who had won all nine previous meetings against 28-year-old Schwartzman, but could not match his rival’s stunning game on the red clay of the Foro Italico.

“He played a great match, not me, when this happens you have to lose,” continued the 34-year-old.

“It’s not a moment for excuses. I’ve spent a long time without competing, I played two good matches.”

The two-time defending champion was making his comeback after a six-month coronavirus-enforced break having skipped the US Open ahead of Roland Garros with its first round on Sept 27.

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“Losing as many serves, you can’t expect to win a match, it’s something that I have to fix, I know how to do it,” he warned.

“It’s a special and unpredictable year, I’ll probably go back home and let’s see.”

Schwartzman next plays Canadian 12th seed Denis Shapovalov for a place in the final.

“Today, I played my best tennis,” said the Argentine.

-AFP

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Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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